What Happened?
Shares of data-mining and analytics company Palantir (NYSE: PLTR) jumped 5.7% in the afternoon session after the New York Times reported on the company's expanded contracts with the US government, providing more insights into the depth and breadth of Palantir's government work, which included streamlining data sharing across government agencies under the Trump administration.
This further confirmed the usefulness of Palantir's Foundry platform and raised optimism about the company's government business as well as the near-term growth potential.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $126.19, up 3.2% from previous close.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Palantir’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 46 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 17 days ago when the stock gained 8.9% on the news that Bank of America analyst Perez Mora raised the stock's price target to $150 while maintaining a Buy rating.
The analyst noted that PLTR was shipping products at a faster pace and noted the conversion funnel had become more efficient. Mora also called out an executive order to modernize US defense acquisitions as a potential catalyst.
Separately, markets experienced a boost after data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that inflation for the month of April 2025 came in slightly better than expected. The CPI rose 0.2% from the previous month, in line with expectations, while headline inflation rose 2.3% year on year (vs estimates for a 2.4% y/y increase).
The data revealed inflation continued to edge closer to the Fed's 2% target. The reaction wasn't anything wild, but the sentiment leaned positive.
The Nasdaq led the way, climbing 1.7%, boosting some tech stocks. This added to the gains from the day before, which was sparked by a breakthrough in US-China trade talks as both sides agreed to pause some tariffs for 90 days, signaling a potential turning point in ongoing tensions and cooling fears of a prolonged trade war.
Palantir is up 67.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $126.19 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $130.18 from May 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Palantir’s shares at the IPO in September 2020 would now be looking at an investment worth $13,283.
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